The invention pertains to a multi-sided placemat which covers a portion of the surface of a table or other flat surface. The placemat is composed of multiple sheets of material which may be folded so as to present different graphic displays.
The use of placemats to protect the surface of a table, for example, during a meal, is widely known. The most common and simplest type of placemat is merely a woven piece of cloth which is identical on both sides thereof. Thus, the user must change placemats in order to change the graphic display.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,870 to Ackerman, et al is directed to a more complicated decorative placemat in which an envelope-like structure is formed from sheets of clear plastic and foamed polyvinyl chloride. The user can insert in the envelope a sheet of material bearing a desired graphic pattern and then close it. Thus, this type of placemat provides the user with the ability to change the graphic pattern displayed. A disadvantage of this construction is that it requires the user to open the envelope, remove the display sheet, and insert a different display sheet each time the graphic pattern is to be charged. Further, the sheets with various graphic patterns must be stored in a separate location from the envelope when the envelope is in use, and therefore may be easily misplaced.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-sided placemat which provides multiple, graphic patterns and has no detachable parts.